PROLOGUE:
Sesshoumaru
Her eyes bore into me, calculating, questioning. . .beautiful.
"Rin."
"Yes?"
"Why do you stare?" I ask, perturbed by her silence. This was not how she used to be. A few years back, our travels were filled with her laughter and smiles. She was chatty and childish. Now she is all poise. When I left her with the humans, she was reluctant to go, and now that I take her back it's as if I am a stranger to her.
"Sesshoumaru, where are you taking me?" I cringed at her casual tone.
"WHERE ARE YOUR MANNERS, RIN?" Jaken instantly scolds. His voice always manages to pester me. "HE IS LORD SESSHOUMARU! HOW DARE YOU ADDRESS HIM SO INFORMALLY."
I hear her scoff from where she was walking behind me. "Lord Sesshoumaru," Rin said in a mocking tone. "Sesshoumaru stopped being my lord the moment he abandoned me."
The force of her words caused me to stop in my tracks. I heard the dull thump when Rin collided with my back, but at that moment I was seeing red. I spun around sharply, making sure that she saw the fury behind my eyes. Her eyes widened in shock and fear. Good.
"Abandoned?" I said. "Child, where do you think you got the clothes on your back?"
Her lips pursed. "I never asked it of you, my lord. Nor did I ask to be separated from Lady Kaede and the village."
I felt like slapping her until the old Rin would resurface. "Then why did you come willingly?" I said, nonchalantly. She did not so much as utter a word of protest when I came for her a few hours ago. I walked into her hut when everyone else was asleep. No one sensed me. I shook her awake and she was startled for a moment. "Come," I had said, and she nodded. That was that. Why is she being rebellious now?
"Because you would have taken me with you even if I did struggle," she said.
"Is that so?"
"Yes, because you always get what you want," she stated matter-of-factly.
"You think that I want you?" her eyes widened and her blush was immediate.
"If you don't, then I'm going back to the village," she said hotly.
"Do as you wish," I said, turning around to leave her. Jaken started to complain but I shushed him with a stare. We walked on, deeper into the woods and was aggravated when I did not hear the footsteps of that insolent, ungrateful, human child following after us.
I sighed mentally. I knew I would turn back to retrieve her eventually; her hold is too strong for me to break and I no longer wish to fight it. But for now, I will not let my pride suffer the mockery of her self-assured smile. No doubt she is thinking that I will come back for her and I will not let her feel smug about it.
She was right about one thing. I always get what I want.